Know the Difference: Marine Edition
Have you ever seen a live sand dollar? I haven’t, but in researching them I learned that many species look like delicious baked goods, such as Echinocyamus pusillus, which resembles a coconut macaroon. I’m not the only one who thinks so; delightfully, sand dollars are also sometimes called sea cookies, and the somewhat thicker ones are sometimes called sea biscuits. Doesn’t this one look like something from a Chinese bakery? Even its colors suggest rice flour and red bean filling. Oh man, I love red bean filling. Echino-, by the way, means “spiny”; I was pleased to learn that many sand dollars are covered with velvety spines, and can wiggle the ones on their undersides like tiny feet in order to propel themeselves through the soft sand.
In case you don’t remember it from more than seven years ago, the original “Know the Difference” comic is here.
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